Havana/The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant (CTE), in Matanzas, has once again disconnected from the national energy system (SEN) this Wednesday. Shortly after four in the afternoon, the Cuban Electrical Union (UNE) warned about it on networks with a brief message: “Unit 1 of the Antonio Guiteras CTE is offline due to a leak in the economizer.”
According to one note in the official press“so far, the UNE has not specified the estimated time for his reinstatement or the extent of the damage, although the entity’s brigades are working on the evaluation and repair of the breakdown.”
The failure of the most important plant in the country coincides with the departure of the SEN from the CTE Lidio Ramón Pérez, known as Felton, in Mayarí (Holguín), which as of this Wednesday foresees a 21-day “energy maintenance.” The worsening of the already long blackouts is therefore expected.
The system “was affected by a deficit in generation capacity for 24 hours yesterday, including the entire early morning hours”
According to the report published today by the UNE, the system “was affected by a deficit in generation capacity during the 24 hours of yesterday, including the entire early morning hours.” For this Wednesday, first thing in the morning I anticipated an impact of 1,960 megawatts (MW) in the evening peak hour, for a demand of 2,900 MW. That is, 67.5% of what is necessary would be missing, which is expected to increase with the failure of the Guiteras.
On October 27, it was another departure from this same CTE that caused a partial blackout in the province of Pinar del Río. In the message on UNE networks, several users commented ironically: “It had taken a while,” while others observed the “dark days” to come with two important power plants offline.
As published the Prensa Latina agencymaintenance on the Felton includes work “on the boiler, the condenser and the two regenerative air heaters.” According to statements by the acting director of the plant, Víctor Hugo González, “one of the most complex tasks is the integral washing of the boiler, which accumulates 14 months of continuous operation without this procedure and will require about 15 days of sustained work from the brigades.”
According to González, during those two weeks “it is planned to resolve 160 pending technical reports, previously identified by inspectors and operators, which will allow accumulated deficiencies to be addressed and the status of the equipment to be verified.” The official note reported on the precariousness of the Mayarí CTE: with the capacity to produce 260 MW, in recent weeks it barely contributed 110 MW. And, by way of conclusion, he almost warned of possible delays in the repairs: “Compliance with the schedule will require close coordination between the participating entities, given the complexity of the work and the need to complete the interventions within the established period.”
One of the commentators on the message from the electrical authorities was forceful: “They removed Felton two days ago, now Guiteras. Tell me, UNE directors, how are you going to provide electricity to the same crushed people as always? We are always the same paying all the deficit of their VIPs, I really don’t know why you are not ashamed, they prefer to continue ruling over the ashes than to accept that Cuba is too big for them. Finish painting a forest and disappear.”
